


The end of the Dynamos

by Pearlislove



Series: Mamma Mia oneshots [2]
Category: Mamma Mia! (2008), Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Mamma Mia! Here we go again spoilers, Terminal Illnesses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-26
Updated: 2018-07-26
Packaged: 2019-06-16 18:33:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15443247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pearlislove/pseuds/Pearlislove
Summary: The night Rosie and Tanya found out that Donna was dying.





	The end of the Dynamos

**Author's Note:**

> !THIS FANFIC CONTAIN MAMMA MIA 2 SPOILERS!
> 
> Angst and hurt/comfort is my speciality, and the last movie had so much of it. I wanted to Explor Rosie and Tanya and their feelings about Donna dying, but it rather became a character piece about Tanya...

 

On a Thursday afternoon, there was a knock on Tanya's door. The noise startled her, the sound of a hand banging on the hard wooden door unfamiliar as it echoed around the flat.  
  
Normally, Tanya would have been properly scared - she did not have enough friends for drop in visits to happen, but enemies enough for someone to come hunt her. This time, however, she was completely calm. She recognised the sound, and knew who waited on the other side.  
  
Rosie Mulligan  
  
She opens the door, and there her short friend is, wiping away tears from red cried eyes and blowing her nose into a dirty-looking handkerchief.  
  
"What happened?" Tanya immediately knows something is terribly wrong. Rosie did not get emotional for no reason, and had not shown Tanya even so much as a frown since she left her boyfriend two years ago.  
  
"Has Donna called you?" More tears tracked down Rosie's face, her feet tripping on the threshold as she tried to step into the apartment and close the door behind her.  
  
"Careful darling" Tanya catch Rosie, helping the trembling mass that was her friend stay on her two feet as she continued to cry. Then, she shook her head. "I missed it when I was in the shower. She didn’t answer when I called back." Tanya had been suspicious when Donna didn't pick up, but knowing her friend, she'd chosen to assume that she was simply busy.  
  
Rosie's presence, however, shattered the illusion.  
  
"She's dying, Tanya. Donna is...is...going away" Rosie choked on the violent sobs clawing their way out of her throat, only managing to say the word 'dying' once out of fear of losing Dinna even faster. She shuddered with pain and terror, wishing she could be stronger in the face of Tanya, but is breaking either way.

The hole situation spin around her mind like a merry go round gone crazy, and she feel dizzy and nauseous.  
  
"What?" Tanya couldn't believe it. She stared at Rosie’s worryingly pale face and refused to believe it. The mere thought of it had her swaying in her five inch stilettos, and she very likely would have collapsed, hadn't Rosie chosen that moment to do it first.  
  
Tanya was still holding on to Rosie’s shoulder, and even through her own light headed dizzy spell, she could feel Rosie's body going slack, the entire weight of the shorter woman suddenly toppling towards her.  
  
"Oh no you don't!” It took Tanya less than a second to recover, her arms wrapping tight around her unconscious friend and keeping her from slamming her head against the concrete floor as she lowered her down on top of the carpet. "Don't do this to me Rosie,  please"  
  
Tanya put two finger to Rosie's throat, relieved when she could feel a fluttering heartbeat tickling them. She was alive, although barely keeping it together.  
  
What would Rosie do when Donna actually died?  
  
For all her talk of being a self-sufficient lone wolf, Tanya and Donna both knew how much their friend truly relied on the two of them to keep her going when she got stuck in a rot. Without them, Tanya doubted she would have lived this far.  
  
Tanya didn't know if she could do that on her own. If she could really keep the Dynamos going if they lost their lead singer. Burying her face in her hands, Tanya began to cry. With deep, shuddering sobs, she sat in her hallway next to her unconscious friend and cried her heart out.  
  
The only thing that pulled her away from her own misery, was when her phone finally rung. The ringtone was "Super Trouper", the only real succes Donna and the Dynamos ever had, and Tanya knew that it was Ddonna who finally called her back.  
  
"Hello Donna" She answered quietly, trying not to to let on how hoarse and broken her voice had become from all the crying.  
  
"Tanya I'm sorry I didn't answer before, I just...have you been crying?" Stopping herself in the middle of her sentence, Tanya could hear the concern in Donna's voice. It broke her heart, to think that Donna was still putting her friends before herself in such a dire situation and yet she’d expected nothing else.  
  
"Rosie told me. She came to my flat crying and told me about you and then...then she passed out." This time, Tanya couldn't suppress her sobs. Every part of her world was crashing and burning, and she had no idea how to fix it.  
  
"Passed out?! is she okay? I'm so sorry Tanya, I just...I wish I was there with you." Donna's voice is heartbreaking, the tears dripping on her cheeks clearly audible as she spoke, and on the other end Tanya cried too.  
  
“You know we’re going to come there as soon as we can. The moment Rosie gets off my carpet, we are getting on the first plane to Greece.” Tanya assure Donna. She had to be there with her, no matter what. She didn’t care if she had hijack a plane she’d do it for Donna. “It’s going to be okay. Once a Dynamo, always a Dynamo.” She tries not to cry anymore but fails.

“I'm sorry Tanya."  
  
Tanya doesn't hear Donna’s apology, her phone flying away from her hand and across the floor as she sees that Rosie is beginning to wake up and recover..  
  
"Rosie! Are you alright?" Tanya helps her friend to sit up, her fingers once more brushing against Rosie’s throat just to have that confirmation that she was alive.

“I’m sorry, Tanya. I didn’t mean to, I Just…” Horrified by her own breakdown, Rosie broke into tears once more. It was horribly embarrassing, but there was little she could do about it.

Donna was dying.  
  
“Oh, come here” Trying so hard not to start crying again herself, Tanya pulled Rosie into her arms, holding the shorter woman against her chest. Like she had done with some baby cousin a lifetime ago, Tanya slowly rocked back and forth, trying to comfort. “It’s going to be alright.”

It was the biggest lie Tanya had even told in her entire lie-riddled life.  And yet, she had to say it. For her own sake, she had to hear someone say it.

It was going to be okay.

It had to be okay, because Donna and Rosie needed Tanya, and she wasn’t going to let them down.

“Tanya? Are you there?” Donna's voice echo from the speaker on her phone, concern lacing her words.

Sighing, Tanya reached for it. “It’s fine. Rosie just woke up.” She explained, glancing down at the woman crying against her chest. She kept slowly rocking back and forth in an effort to soothe, but knew it would not heal the wounds on her soul.

“Oh thank god” The relief in Donna’s voice was so clear Tanya could have touched it. “You better look after her, Tanya. She needs us.”

“ _You_ need _us,_ darling. We’re coming to Greece as soon as we can, no protests.” Tanya rebuked firmly, smiling just slightly as she was interrupted by Rosie snoring against her cleavage. “We won’t let you down, Donna.” Tanya whispered, suddenly a lot quieter as she tried not to wake up Rosie. God knows the other woman probably needed the sleep.

“I love you girls” Donna sigh, and Tanya could hear her smile over the phone. “Sky and Sophie are calling for me. We’ll talk again soon.” The line goes dead, and the phone falls out of Tanya's hand.

She closed her eyes, leaned her head against the wall, and wrapped her now free arm around Rosie as well. Tears slipped down her face, but in the silent apartment there was no one to notice. Her cries were quiet, Rosie’s snoring easily drowning it out as she cried silently.

It was stupid, but she had never expected Donna to be first to go. Rosie, certainly, and maybe even her, but Donna? No. Never.

Not their strong, independant Donna.

Smiling bitterly, Tanya bowed down to kiss the head of her sleeping friend. “I’ll look after you and Donna” She promised Rosie, knowing very well she could not hear her as she dreamed herself far away from the hurting reality. “I won’t let anything happen to my Dynamos.”

To the last breath, Tanya would protect her friends, taking care of them and never breaking as long as they needed her.

It was what she’d promised herself, and she stuck to it.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos & comments are appreciated! Replies are promised! <3


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